Forever
by Bohemian Storm
Summary: As he dies, Boromir reflects on what he thinks of as the 'blind bravery and fierce loyalty of the hobbits'. Reviews greatly adored.


Forever  
  
  
Notes: I don't own them, though maybe if I keep dreaming, the hobbits will be mine. :D This is my first Lord of the Rings fic. Twas inspired by the movie, not by the happenings in the book.  
  
  
  
Friendships last forever, at least that's what I have been able to decide from watching them over the past few months. Who knew one could learn so much from a hobbit? A tiny little creature, barely up to my waist and yet they tell me so much. They tell me everything I could ever hope to know about the good in the world. I wish I could have learned it earlier, seen them maybe just a few months before I had. Maybe even a week earlier would have helped me to realize that I wasn't alone. Yet, I still believed it, almost until this very moment.  
  
The moment an arrow pierced my heart, running me through completely. It's the third sticking out my body and this one I won't be able to live through. This one arrow will be my undoing. Yet, in the moment I fall, they leap forward, screaming at the top of their lungs and brandishing their swords. They fought so valiantly, stabbing and cutting, their tiny arms flying and their legs kicking. I wanted to be there alongside them, protecting them from the Orcs who picked them up and carried them away.  
  
The little ones are gone and I'm not the one who will bring them back, if anyone can at all. I want to save them, to repay them for everything they've shown me over the past months. I have heard stories from Aragorn, stories of their great loyalty to one another, stories of their blind bravery.   
  
When the Ringwraiths were upon them, Sam stepped forward only to be thrown aside. Merry and Pippin willingly took his place, their swords raised and their souls bared. How can one not admire them with their brilliant and fierce loyalty? I wish I had known such loyalty, something even a brother could not show me. A trait even my king doesn't have, not compared to these creatures.  
  
When the troll ran Frodo through, killing him for certain, we all thought, Merry and Pippin were again in the middle of the fight. They show no fear, no uncertainty in the face of danger, not when one of their own is at risk. They seem so young in this world, yet I know how old they are. Despite their age they have led such a sheltered life and they have come into the real and often frightening word with more confidence than I have seen in a grown man.  
I cannot explain the depth of my admiration for them, not at this stage when they have once again left me truly speechless. As I tried to protect them, as I threw myself headlong into the battle, they watched in shocked silence as my body was mutilated by the thick arrows. I never expected them to hurl themselves into the middle of a band of Orcs with their swords drawn. I never expected them to protect me with their lives like they did with their own.   
  
I am not a hobbit, I am just a human, and they shouldn't have risked themselves for me. I was already dead when they leapt into action, but that didn't stop them. The little ones, they have turned into true little warriors and because of if they're gone. Because of their blind stupidity, their need to protect me, their urge to keep their loved ones safe -- whatever it is that convinces them to risk themselves -- because of that need they're gone. They've been taken away by the Orcs and all I can do it sit here and watch as I slowly die.  
Aragorn is here, but they are still gone.  
  
"They've taken the little ones," I manage to say, blood spilling over my lips.  
  
He shushes me and I listen.  
  
They're gone because of me. I am left to die and to admire what two hobbits did for a dying man. What can be left on my mind but my failures in life, especially compared to two such noble creatures as Merry and Pippin? Where I was so concerned with proving myself, with rebuilding my fallen people, the hobbits have discovered what really matters. They know love, courage, a misunderstood bravery and mostly, acceptance.  
  
I wish them well, I wish them a long life full of what they deserve. I close my eyes and I silently thank them, because they have made me realize what is truly important.   
  
Men may not last forever, but friendships do.  
  
  
End  
  
Very short, I know. :P 


End file.
